Turkish arms industry increase sales by 36 per cent

Turkey increased its arms exports by almost 36 per cent in 2012, according to the Turkish Defence Industry Exporters Association.

Exports of Turkish defence industry grew by 35.7 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, reaching $1.2 billion, the report of the Turkish Defence Industry Exporters Association, published on Monday on its website said.[2]According to the report, the bulk of exported goods accounted for helicopters, planes and their spare parts (worth $287 million), turbojet engines (worth $218 million), spare parts of tanks and armored vehicles (worth $106 million).In 2012, the largest number of defence products[3] to the tune of $ 490 million was exported to the United States. Mainly parts of military aircraft and helicopters were exported in the country. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the second largest importer of Turkish defence products ($101 million) followed by Saudi Arabia ($ 99 million).The largest increase in exports of Turkish defence products accounted for Iraq in 2012.[4] Exports to the country amounted to $ 31 million compared with two million in 2011.